ITP: Chariots of Fire

[fracta_anima]

Who: Minami, Open
Where: Virgo Ward
Summary: Minami has come to Hinoto-Ri and meets people both old and new.
Warnings: Minami and friends making fools of themselves.


[So there's a young lady in the Virgo Ward who looks a bit lonely, a bit nervous, and obviously trying very hard to look brave. People who know Minako might notice this girl's striking resemblance to her. Though, if one looked closely enough, they might notice she still seems to have some baby fat on her, her face is a bit rounder, and her hair a different shade of red. She's also taken to wearing her hair pins to form XIII rather than XXII. If anyone asks she claims it's due to losing a couple hairpins and not bothering to buy more.

Being in this place is no sweat. She's been to new places practically all her life and Igor had told her she had a new Journey to partake in. Maybe this was it? The big journey she's supposed to partake in now that her brother had taken her place as the Seal? Maybe, just maybe, this is how she can pay him back?

....but did it really have to be by herself?

With that thought in mind, the girl turns a corner onto a street specializing in food vendors. Her stomach growls (loudly) and she tries not to look too embarrassed by it. That's right, she hasn't eaten for a few hours. Not since her brother had....

It's at this time a very familiar face near a fruit stand spots her. Conveniently at the same time the girl spots said face.]

Minami?!

Miki?!

[>Cue Music

The pair run at each other, both a pair of giggly high school girls incredibly happy to see each other in such a strange new place. Both even jump once they're close enough to reach other, intent on tackling each other in a bear hug.

Too bad they wind up headbutting with a loud "THUNK" and a pair of girly shrieks instead. Both wind up on the ground clutching their craniums.]

[OOC: So, yeah, both Miki and Minami will be replying to threads after making idiots out of themselves. Expect threadjacking and don't be afraid to threadjack yourselves!]

Comments

[fracta_anima]

[She shook her head, trying to mask the complex well of emotions building in her. A grandfather? Who, if he was too sick to keep Minako, was likely gone? Other relatives? Just how much had she missed by not asking to look into these things?

Best not to think too hard about it, even if that thought alone makes it impossible not to, just try to learn about it.]

I was in the hospital for a long time after the accident, then I had to stay in a special care home because of all the physical therapy I had to do. Then I went through a lot of foster homes since Kirijo Corp. was sponsoring me and my social worker insisted it'd be better for my recovery instead of an orphanage. No one ever told me if any relatives came looking for me or not.

[greatseal]

[Her heart sinks a little. Even if Minami had been spared the shuffling between relatives, she'd ended up shuffled through stranger's houses, which is probably even worse. At least Minako had family obligation to back her up, even if most of them had been too busy with their own lives to really care for a child...]

I... wasn't hurt badly, so maybe that was part of it. Grandfather aside, our relatives... well, they're good people, but most of them didn't have the time to raise another child. [She's trying so hard not to sound bitter, here. Minami never knew these people, so it wasn't right to disparage them.] So I had to move around a lot too. But they probably thought you were doing better with a big corporation looking after you.

[fracta_anima]

Mmm.... maybe. Kirijo basically insisted on covering all the medical expenses and pretty much anything else I needed. They might have been afraid Kirijo would stop if someone claimed me?

[She leaves out that Yukari was sponsored, too, for her father's involvement in the project. Maybe it isn't the same in Minako's world. Part of her had also thought that maybe, just maybe, her relatives had been more focused on finding Minato at the time. Everyone had assumed he'd gotten thrown from the bridge and it'd been over a year before the police stopped trawling the sea around Tatsumi Port Island looking for his body.

Still, Minami wasn't sure which was worse: going through the homes of strangers who were willing and able to care for children and being told she wasn't wanted or going through the homes of relatives out of obligation and passed along.

She does her best to keep her own sadness out of her voice. The most painful thing in the world had been finding those files of Ikutsuki's and finding out he'd arranged how often she'd been moved around. Some of the couples had truly not wanted her, yes. Couples who had thought they could foster a child but changed their mind for various reasons. But not all of them. There had been one couple in particular, one she decides to speak of with a very fond tone in her voice to help keep the sadness and loneliness of the past at bay:]

The people I stayed with were usually nice to me. There was even this one couple that was going to adopt me when I was eleven, but the husband was transferred out of the country for business and they wouldn't have been able to take me with them. I was thinking about trying to get back in touch with them now that things are settling back in Iwatodai.

[greatseal]

I hope you do! I'm sure they'd be happy to know how you're doing now.

[That's the lesson she'd learned from Iwatodai, too... that more people than you'd expect like and care about you. Although she still doesn't think much of depending on adults.]